


Severus Tobias Snape

by SlytherinIceFaery



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Possibly Pre-Slash, Possibly hallucinations, Possibly mentor/protege, Really just depends on how you want to take it.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5722978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinIceFaery/pseuds/SlytherinIceFaery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A way to say good-bye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Severus Tobias Snape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alan Rickman](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Alan+Rickman).



> My Tribute to an amazing man. I love Alan Rickman and my favorite character of his is Severus Snape. I very loosely took Halfbloodprincess95's ghost idea. Please read her tribute as well. This can be taken as pre-slash, but also as a simple understand between a maturing young man and his newest roll model.

Harry Potter stood waiting for Headmaster Severus Snape to appear. Everyone had been talking about the ghost that haunted the clock tower since that fateful night so many months before. Potter had returned to the shrieking shack as soon as he could after the final battle. He owed it to the man after everything he'd done to help them against Lord Voldemort. However when he'd gotten there, any sign that the man had ever been present was gone, except for a dark puddle of dried blood on the floor boards where he had lain dying. The first years had been the original reporters of the sightings. The rest of the school thought they were seeing things because of stress, wishful thinking, or any number of their reason, but slowly almost every single student got a glimpse of "the ghost of Snape". Harry refused to play along with the populous. He was finally studying and keeping his nose out of trouble. Hermione Granger had even caved and forced Ron to spend the night in the tower with her. For her protection of course. She confronted Harry a few weeks later to ask why he hadn't gone to see Snape. Harry told her that if it was really Snape making his nightly rounds then the ghost would take house points away for being out of bed and seems no points had been taken it couldn't be Snape, so he wasn't going to waste his time.

You may ask, "why is he waiting in the clock tower at 11:30 PM then?" The answer, if someone asked Harry, was that he wanted to prove to everyone they were seeing things. In reality, he needed to say good-bye. Since the death of his most hated professor, Harry, had learned so much of the mysterious man's life. Lily had left Harry a journal about Severus. He found it in one of the vaults that opened when he came of age during the summer. Harry learned more about Snape's friendship with his mother. He learned that Lily forgave Severus almost immediately, but because she was stubborn she refused to tell Severus until he came to apologize to her. He hadn't. Harry realized he'd gotten his stubbornness from Lily not James. And that's what made him adorn himself with his invisible cloak and make his way to the clock tower. He wouldn't be as stubborn as his mother, he would take this opportunity to say thank you, to say he was sorry for the way he's treated the man for 7 years, and admit that his most hatred professor was the reason he now applied himself in Potions and had applied for an apprenticeship with the Potions Master's guild. If it hadn't been for the Half-Blood Prince he never would have opened his mind to learning the art and he never would have discovered it that he like it and it was now his favorite subject. 

Potter heard a noise to his left and froze. Slowly he turned his gaze towards the giant clock face. There in the moonlight stood a dark figure hands clasped behind his back as he stood straight and looked out onto the grounds of Hogwarts. Before Harry could remind himself this was a ghost and he's probably go over the balcony he flung his invisible cloak aside and ran to the man. Surprisingly, Harry collided with a solid form, very solid and warm. Tears made his vision swim and blur as the figure turned in his grasp, wrapping strong, comforting arms around him.

"Harry…" The voice rumbled in the chest beneath his head. Harry clung tighter and buried his head in the mans robes. "Look at me…" Harry obeyed immediately and tilted his head up to look at the man in his embrace. "You are the last one. This is my last night."

"Please don't go." Harry begged the man. 

"Hogwarts is no longer in need of me. She has proven that by allowing Headmistress McGonnagall to take over my duties. I'm free to leave after almost 20 years of being confined here."

"That's not true! The students and faculty need you! We need you! I need you! Please!" The older man rubbed soothing circles over Harry's back as the Chosen One broke down and sobbed. Slowly his cries turned into sniffles and hiccups. The young man still refused to release the professor as if the dark man would evaporate if Harry let go. "How?" 

Snape didn't pretend to misunderstand the question. "I hear you are doing well in your classes now that you don't have someone trying to kill you, nor do you have a dungeon bat making your life miserable. I'm sure you can guess how." 

"Anti-venom potion," Harry stated. "And a blood replenish potion. You didn't make my life miserable. You protected me. You cared for me in a way that no one has since my parent's died. Thank you. That's why I came tonight." Harry finally pulled away from his former professor although not completely. "I wanted to thank you for protecting me, for never giving up on trying to beat some knowledge into me- sometimes even literally- for reminding me to do what I love, for everything. Thank you."

Severus stared at Harry for a few long moments before giving him a simple nod. 

"I'm excelling in Potions now. McGonnagall gave me access to all of your books. It took a lot of convincing and me promising I wouldn't harm anything with in your rooms for her to allow me in, but it was worth it. It's a great help. I even applied to the Guild for an apprenticeship." 

"Very good, Mr. Potter, but I shall be leaving now. I will not be returning." Tears formed in Harry's eyes, but went unshed. He knew he needed to be strong now. He knew he would be okay now. Harry pulled away from Severus. "Shall I impart one more morsel of wisdom upon you?" Snape asked.

"Anything," Harry nodded in encouragement.

"If in a year when you graduate you still think Potions is for you and wish to learn Potions under a master, you should request a man by the name of Tobias Prince," the significance of the name wasn't lost on the young man. "He is not a nice man, he will push you to your limits and beyond, but I have been told he is a good man and I'm sure he would be happy to see you and teach you, even if he doesn't show it." Harry rushed at Snape giving him another tight hug.

"I will! Good-bye, Professor." Harry released the man, retrieved his cloak, and left without looking back, even if he had looked back all he would have seen was the moonlight streaming in.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my good-bye to a good man and great actor. There will not be any more.


End file.
